The sky is the limit for Indian aviation, but can homegrown talent keep up?

It is estimated by aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) that the country will need an additional 10,900 pilots by the end of 2029-30. While the exact numbers of engineers, crew and all other skilled and unskilled personnel required are not easily available, it is reasonable to assume that the final number will be in the several thousand.

The demand for aviation talent

In January 2024, after placing one of the biggest aircraft orders in India for Air India, Tata Sons announced that it would set up a 600,000-square-foot aviation academy in Gurugram, the largest in South Asia. Many industry experts are of the view that Tata Sons might end up making its most valuable contribution to India’s aviation landscape through this venture.

The academy aims to train more than 50,000 aviation professionals, including pilots, cabin crew, ground handling personnel, engineers and security staff over the next few years. Advanced training of pilots in two simulator training units with over 20 full flight simulator (FFS) bays is in the offing. To facilitate the requisite training, the airline has entered a joint venture with Airbus to equip the training centre with 10 of the 20 FFS Bays. The academy will feature simulators of the Airbus A320 Family, A350, Boeing 777, Boeing 787, and Boeing 737 family to begin with.

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The airline is also setting up its own flying training organization (FTO) at Amravati — the first by any airline in India — in Maharashtra as part of an initiative by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC). The school is expected to be operational by the first quarter of FY 2026-27 and will target to graduate 180 commercial pilots every year, equipped with 31 single-engine aircraft and 3 twin-engine aircraft for training. As of now, the first batch of trainees for its cadet pilot programme have been sent overseas for training. An aircraft maintenance engineering (AME) school, offering comprehensive training for engineering cadets, is also in the works.

Currently, there are 35-odd FTOs in India certified by DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), many of which are private small, single promoter outfits of indifferent quality. At a government level, there is the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy and the quasi-government National Flying Training Institute in Gondia, both of which are coveted. Several aspiring Indian candidates go to the US and other countries to get their commercial pilot license (CPL), the first level of training required.

Training the next generation

Giving it competition in the engineering space will be GMR’s new school for AMEs, which will aim to meet the demand for additional 5000-odd engineers that are likely to be needed by the country over the next five years, in keeping with the growth in the sector and additional capacity to be added.

The engineers who will be from the sciences background will be put through a rigorous four-year training, two of which will be academic and with two years of on-the-job training at GMR’s MRO in Hyderabad. The first batch of 100-plus students will begin their AME training this July and the school will employ over 100 staffers in its first phase, which is likely to go up to 175 in the second phase.

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GMR’s Aero Academy, functioning in Hyderabad since 2009 with over 100 employees, already operates a total of 35 courses and has trained over 20,000 candidates to perform various functions at airports like

While both the Tatas and GMR will be targeting students at the upper end of the income segments, Chennai-based Chennais Amrita, which offers courses in hotel management and claims to have provided placements in the tourism and hospitality sector to over 25,000 since 2010 has sensed an opportunity and recently forayed into aviation training as well. It has set up a new aviation college offering undergraduate programmes which will include a bachelor of arts and sciences programme in aviation besides some diploma courses.

The Chennai-based group claims that after a two-year study stint at its facility, students can head to Malaysia for a one-year study at UniCAM, where the students will be offered internships at the international airport, Malaysia -- all at a price affordable and lower than competitors.

Leadership gap in Indian aviation

While all the plans and intentions to create talent at various levels in the sector are welcome, a wide and yawning gap persists.

Almost since the Indian skies were opened up for private players, the top management positions across carriers have been occupied by overseas professionals — right from Nikos Kardassis, Mark Winders and Bruce Ashby to Campbell Wilson and Piter Elbers today — and India has systematically failed to create a pool of CEOs, COOs and leaders to run the airlines, the single most expensive resource. It is here where the talent crunch is at its severest.

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So far in India, only IIM Bangalore has offered a general management programme in aerospace and aviation management since 2015; it currently has 37 in the running batch and 305 alumni. The 40-day programme delivered over a period of 8 to 10 months costs ₹7 lakh (sans GST) and can lead to a global executive MBA in aerospace management with the Toulouse Business School. Barring this, there are no management training courses in aviation leadership and the gap is costing India millions of dollars as almost every airline is forced to import talent from overseas.

A stark opportunity stares entrepreneurs or leading business schools in the face.

Anjuli Bhargava is a senior journalist who writes on governance, infrastructure and the social sector. The views expressed are personal.